TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN

Hello,

I believe that like every year, this year as well, you will be broaadcasting SCRIPPS NATIONAL SPELLING BEE on May 28, 2009. Kudos to you and to all of your team for providing such an excellent opportunity for our children to sharpen their skill of spelling and vocabulary.  In an era when many students seem more interested and enthusiastic in participating in athletic sporting extracurricular activities and (even worse) wasting their times in video games, it is refreshing to see there are still those who enjoy taking part in academic competitions such as a spelling bee. The SPN and ABC has done a wonderful job in making it so popular by broadcasting it on prime time.

 

My children are fancy of spelling bee games. To encourage them more, I have made a copy of Scripps competition 2008 final rounds which was broadcasted on ABC. We enjoy watching the program and often try to see how many of those difficult words we could have guessed right. Sometimes we even compete with each other. However the fun has been spoiled by a glitch.  I noted that in the video presentation, they started showing the actual word (the answer) on the screen very early, right after Dr. Bailly pronounced the word, much before the speller could spell the word. Thus not giving the viewers at home, a chance to try spelling the words.  There should be some reasonable interval between the pronouncing the word and then showing the answer on the screen.

I would suggest that the screen display should show the meaning of the word first before the actual words. In fact, if possible, it should correlate with the speller’s response. When the speller asks the meaning of the word, the screen display should show only the meaning, when the speller asks the etymology then the screen should show the answer to that and the actual spelled word (the answer) should be showing simultaneously when the speller starts spelling the word. By doing this will increase the audience involvement and the program will become much more interactive.

 

I hope that you will consider my proposal which will make your program even more interesting and interactive.

 

Again, thank you very much for doing such an excellent job. Keep it up.